Hauntings Y

YMCA, Holywell Cross, Chesterfield

Various witnesses over the years have reported strange incidents occurring at the YMCA, which is reputed to have a ghost known as Mickey or Ickey. For example, a female member of staff saw the figure of an old man dressed in a mac and hat in the coffee bar.

Caretakers have heard assorted sounds such as thuds and footsteps in the empty building. One person was sure someone was following him in the corridor but when he turned round, there was no-one there.

On one occasion, several boys had been attending a rock group practice there. At the end, the temperature suddenly dropped and one of the boys fell into a trance. He spoke as though he were in a church congregation, making comments about the preacher’s sermon.

At a time when work was being carried out on the building, Mr Steve Brown was standing near a hole in the floorboards when he experienced something grabbing his leg and trying to pull him into the hole.

Prior to its use as a YMCA building, the premises were used as a Methodist chapel. In those days, a regular phenomenon took place between 9 and 10 o’clock each evening, consisting of the opening of the door on the left-hand side of the organ, followed by a misty, featureless ghost walking along the balcony to the right-hand door, which then opened.

Since the building was converted into Livingstone’s nightclub, a cleaner by the name of Janet once saw a figure dressed similarly to a priest, which appeared to jump into her.

References:
Pearson, 1984; Brindle, 2011.


Yorkshire Bank, New Square, Chesterfield

This bank was at one time the residence of a Dr Jones, who incorrectly named it ‘The Old Manor House’. During the early 1800s, the aunt of a resident of the house saw the ghost of a small child in an upstairs room or corridor. Surprised by this, she bent down, to pick up the child, but, to her horror, her arms went straight through the image, frightening the lady to the extent that she fled down the stairs. The resident’s grandmother had also heard a ghost with a clanking chain walking across the floor of the hall and into the dining room. She locked the door of the room but this did not prevent the ghost clanking its way out of the room again. In addition, the resident’s sister saw a terrifying image in the building and seemed to succeed in removing it by throwing a Bible at it.

In the Manager’s office (previously the dining room), pictures would be found hanging at a slant, despite being continually straightened. From 1999, this room was used to house the mechanics of the mini bank and problems were forever being experienced with its operation, even though the remainder of the computer system in the building functioned with no problem.

Despite all the telephones in the building being switched to the night supervisor’s telephone at night, the supervisor still reported telephones ringing in other parts of the building.

References:
Daniel, 1974; Pearson, 1984; Armitage, 2005; Brindle, 2011; Derbyshire Ghosts with Richard Felix, n.d.